Classic CBS 60 Minutes Exposé on the Polygraph
In this 1986 exposé of the polygraph trade, CBS 60 Minutes set up a test in which three polygraph examiners chosen at random from the New York telephone directory were asked to administer polygraph examinations to four different employees of the CBS-owned magazine, Popular Photography, regarding the theft of a camera and lens. In fact, no theft had occurred.
Each polygrapher was told that a different employee was suspected as the likely culprit. In each case, the polygrapher found the person who had been fingered to be deceptive.
Categories: Polygraph
Interesting video. With a larger sample size and statistically significant analysis,
this type of experiment could demonstrate operator bias in results. It is actually
a very common situation, i.e. in initial applicant screening operations where there
is no known offense and expectation of deception on the part of the subject, yet
a false positive is taken as grounds for rejection.